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Sunday, July 27, 2014

JIM ABBOTT MADE ME A YANKEE FAN!

I want to introduce my BYB Audience to Valerie Snow...a reader and strong woman who reached out to me with a terrific story about hope, determination and the New York Yankees. I was truly touched by it, and so I asked her to share it with all of you. She agreed... and here it is. Enjoy this, I certainly did.

Val, thank you, we really appreciate it here at BYB! -Casey

This might not be all that interesting, but you know we
are passionate about our teams. Growing up, there was no better team than the Oakland A's. As the sixth child of a pretty
much single mom, I'm surprised how many games we got to at Oakland
County Coliseum, but we did!

Of course we
all loved Reggie! Born in Oakland, raised in Fremont, for us, it was all
about the A's. I have been a baseball fan for as long as I can remember,
and I never expected to love another team like I loved my A's. Even
after we left California, my team was still the A's.

We left
California in early 1972, but how loudly and proudly I cheered for them in 1972, 1973 and 1974! Yep, I was cocky.

Nothing changed for me
baseball-wise over the next 5 to 6 years. I would ALWAYS be an A's fan... or so I thought. I remember when Billy Martin defected back to the
Yankees in 1983.

We felt like our family had been punched! It would have
been okay for him to manage any other team, but the Yankees? Now, I
know Billy loved baseball as much as we do, and he was blessed to do it
for a living, so I hated him a little less for that. My mother never got over
her hatred of the Yankees though...or Billy Martin. Ironically,
because both Bobby Murcer and Mickey Mantle were from her home town, and
she loved them, yet, she hated that they played for the New York Yankees.

As young
adult, I continued to cheer for my A's. I never thought anything would
change that. In 1983, I had my son Leo. Still an A's fan, but his
birth would change my life.

Significantly disabled, we didn't know if
he would "catch up" developmentally, or just see the gap between where
he was, and where boys his age were just widen. It widened, and
significantly. It never mattered to us, but issues of disability became
more important to us as we raised Leo.

In the early 90's when
Milwaukee was still in the American League, we went to see them play the Yankees at Old County Stadium in Milwaukee. I was living in Iowa at the time, so it was a
short road trip. I wasn't a Brewers fan, but I was, and remain to this
day, a fan of baseball! Of course, as a life-long A's fan, I had come
to hate the Yankees, so I was cheering for the Brewers. But all that
changed when we got in our amazing seats, and I thought
something was wrong with my glasses. I asked my husband "Is their
pitcher missing part of his arm?"

I was shocked, but also very touched
that a Major League Baseball would take a chance on a guy with an obvious disadvantage,
let alone a team like the New York Yankees, who, at the time, I was sure were the
Satans of baseball. It was after that game, and when it had all sunk in
well that I began to love the Yankees, and that has never changed since. Yes,
I know Jim Abbott didn't have the long career of many pitchers, but he was,
and continues to be a great role model for any kid with a disability
who has goals.

I live in the
middle of nowhere right now. A year ago, I lived in Iowa, and were kind of central to Minneapolis, Chicago, and Kansas City, so we could go see the Yankees whenever they were close. I forced my family to take me to
New York City in 2008 for our family vacation because I had to see old Yankee
Stadium before it closed. It was surreal for me and I really could not
believe I was there! It didn't matter that the Yankees lost to the then
last place Orioles. I sat about 18 rows up, just between home plate and
the Yankees dugout, and watched it all happen. It made me entire trip!
I watch every game still to this day, including pre-season.

I
can't hate the A's, and as long as their play doesn't impact my Yankees
standings, I wish them well. But in the end? I want my Yankees to be
the AL team in the World Series... all because of Jim Abbott!